Animals

"Trout Bubbles"

A westslope cutthroat trout swims into the bubbling current of a small spawning stream in western Montana.
Behind the lens.
This was a difficult image to create. I wanted an eye-level portrait of the trout that included the air bubbles, which would show off the current that the fish was swimming in. But the fish is under a log in the shadowed corner of an undercut bank. Just getting in position without scaring the fish away was challenging -- and time-consuming.
The low light levels meant a slow shutter speed,and that in turn helps show motion in the air bubbles. I had to be pretty close to the fish because that much current tends to pick up debris, and shaded underwater areas want to turn blue on you. So the resulting image is a pleasing compromise between lighting, motion and camera positioning.